Results for "band/orchestra"

Memphis Jug Band

Memphis Jug Band - band/ensemble The Memphis Jug Band varied in composition but always included Will Shade, known also by a family name, Son Brimmer. Shade was not only a proficient guitarist but also a harmonica and jug player of some stature. He was born in Memphis, February 5, 1898, and worked with fellow Memphis musician Furry Lewis as early as 1917. The Memphis Jug Band was formed in the early 1920s to play parties, clubs, and dances. The band's appeal was universal; they played for tips in Church's Park (now W.C. Handy Park) on Beale Street, swanky affairs at the Chickasaw Country Club, and for conventions at the Peabody Hotel

Medeski Martin & Wood

Active since: 1991

Wide open: That’s the phrase John Medeski uses to describe his bandmates’ musical sensibilities, the attitude he seeks in himself, and the spirit of musical adventure that Medeski Martin & Wood have pursued for two decades.

The trio’s amalgam of jazz, funk, “avant-noise” and a million other musical currents and impulses is nearly impossible to classify, which is just how they like it. Medeski’s keyboard excursions, Chris Wood’s hard-charging bass lines and Billy Martin’s supple, danceable beats have come to resemble a single organism, moving gracefully between genre-defying compositions and expansive improvisation atop a relentless groove.

McKinney's Cotton Pickers

William McKinney, showman-drummer, formed his Cotton Pickers in Springfield, Ohio in 1922, but it was not until the summer of 1928 that they commenced their short but illustrious recording career for Victor. In the autumn of 1931 Don Redman, who did most of the arrangements, took a band of his own, including in it several of the Cotton Pickers. The Cotton Pickers were based originally in the Greystone Ballroom in Detroit, opposite Jean Goldkette's excellent White orchestra, but by the early part of 1929 we find them in Harlem at various nightspots. Their personnel varied as any personnel in a band this size, but in it's ranks were at one time such brilliant stars of the Harlem Jazz firmament as Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Lonnie Johnson, James P

Mahavishnu Orchestra

Active since: 1971

John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra is considered by many to be the greatest Jazz-fusion group of all time. The group was formed in late 1970-early 1971 by McLaughlin, a brilliant guitarist with a jazz-rock pedigree that included work with the Graham Bond Organization in the mid-60s, and with the electrified Miles Davis on his landmark "Bitches Brew" LP in 1969. The original Orchestra included Jan Hammer (later to score TV's "Miami Vice") on keyboards, Jerry Goodman on violin, Rick Laird on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums. Signed with much hoopla to Columbia in 1971, they released two fabulous studio albums, “Inner Mounting Flame,” (’71) and “Birds of Fire,” (’72) along with a live ‘73 album, “Between Nothingness and Eternity.” A reformation of the group in 1974 brought Jean-Luc Ponty on board to play violin, Gayle Moran on keyboards and vocals, Ralphe Armstrong on bass, and drummer Michael Warden

Magma

It was in 1970 that the explosive compound of a cavernous bass and a hammering beat erupted from our record players, as an otherworldly voice chanted in a mysterious language, the sound swelling with incandescent guitar riffs and the full force of a brass section. Thus began a first, double album, quite simply entitled Magma. Its strangeness and creative force meant that Magma would never appeal to everyone but the Parisian group’s landmark debut immediately guaranteed them a place in music history. Hailing from such diverse musical backgrounds as jazz, classical, blues, rock and pop, the eight founding musicians had all the talent required to bring this unique and visionary music to life

Machito

Born: March 3, 1909

Machito and his Afro Cubans was an absolute powerhouse unit that lay the foundation for Latin Jazz, a seminal force in the original fusion of Cuban clave rhythms and the melodies and harmonies of jazz. They were the original Mambo Kings in New York in the ‘40s and are considered the most innovative and influential orchestra in the genre.

Francisco Gutierrez Grillo was born in Havana, Cuba on April 16, 1908. He set out to be a singer, and music became his life. He acquired the nickname Machito, as a youngster, though he was called Macho by his close friends. He sang in many local groups and also became a very proficient clave and maraca player, essential instruments in Cuban music. He relocated to New York in 1937, where he immediately found work singing and landed in Conjunto Moderno, with whom he made his first recordings. He moved on to the Conjunto Caney and recorded with them until 1939.

Led Zeppelin

Active since: 1968

Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. The band's heavy, guitar-driven sound, rooted in blues and psychedelia on their early albums, has earned them recognition as one of the progenitors of heavy metal, though their unique style drew from a wide variety of influences, including folk music. After changing their name from the New Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin signed a deal with Atlantic Records that afforded them considerable artistic freedom. Although the group was initially unpopular with critics, they achieved significant commercial success with albums such as Led Zeppelin (1969), Led Zeppelin II (1969), Led Zeppelin III (1970), Led Zeppelin IV (1971), Houses of the Holy (1973), and Physical Graffiti (1975)

James Last

Active since: April 17, 1929

Jazz Mandolin Project

Since 1993, Jamie Masefield's Jazz Mandolin Project has been offering an entirely new concept of what the mandolin can do. Pushing the boundaries with a new innovative sound, "JMP" has toured throughout the US and internationally with a unique approach that has changed the mind of many as to the instruments potential. In its latest ambitious chapter, it's exploring the realm of working in multiple mediums. The name itself, The Jazz Mandolin Project suggests an ongoing experiment, and so it is that Masefield is currently steering his group away from the concert stage and moving it in front of a movie screen to shed light on classic literature and the ethics of Leo Tolstoy, (who has often received the title as the greatest storyteller in modern history)

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

Active since: 1937

International Sweethearts of Rhythm - band/ensemble This was the first racially integrated women's band and it lasted for over a decade, playing to primarily black audiences in theaters and ballrooms across the country. At the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., the band set a new box office record of 35,000 patrons in one week of 1941. The band was founded in 1937 at the Piney Woods Country Life School for poor and orphaned black children in Mississippi. The intent was for the group to be a profit-making enterprise to support the school. However, by 1941 the Sweethearts severed their ties with the school, moved to Virginia and recruited some seasoned professionals